Abstract

A theory is developed for anisotropic Maxwell bodies, which is based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes in continuous media. According to the usual procedure of non-equilibrium thermodynamics the expression for the entropy production, which is due to heat conduction and anelastic flow, is derived. If the equations of state may be linearized an explicit form for the stress-strain-temperature relation is obtained. This relation has the form of a linear relation among the mechanical stress tensor, the gradient of the temperature and the substantial derivatives with respect to time of the mechanical stress tensor, the tensor of the total strain and the temperature. The occurrence of the gradient of the temperature in the stress-strain-temperature relation is connected with the possibility that in anisotropic media a cross effect occurs between the irreversible phenomena of inelastic flow and heat conduction.